Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Rating Lowered to “Hold” at DZ Bank

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) was downgraded by equities research analysts at DZ Bank from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Thursday, Marketbeat.com reports. They currently have a $198.00 target price on the information services provider’s stock. DZ Bank’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 6.83% from the company’s previous close.

Several other analysts have also recently issued reports on GOOGL. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $210.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Bank of America reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. China Renaissance raised shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $217.00 price objective (up previously from $215.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Roth Mkm upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $206.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $210.62.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOGL opened at $185.34 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.27 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.95. Alphabet has a 1-year low of $130.66 and a 1-year high of $207.05. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $191.28 and its 200-day moving average price is $174.64.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Alphabet will post 8.02 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total transaction of $270,787.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,606,723.84. The trade was a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.67, for a total value of $3,975,075.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,061,806 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $364,259,266.02. This trade represents a 1.08 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 89,529 shares of company stock worth $16,600,078. 11.55% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Bennett Selby Investments LP increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Bennett Selby Investments LP now owns 1,354 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $256,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC now owns 1,293 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $245,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Conrad Siegel Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Conrad Siegel Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 9,845 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,864,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 2,381 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $457,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Addison Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 7,527 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,425,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Company Profile

Alphabet Inc offers various products and platforms in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia-Pacific, Canada, and Latin America. It operates through Google Services, Google Cloud, and Other Bets segments. The Google Services segment provides products and services, including ads, Android, Chrome, devices, Gmail, Google Drive, Google Maps, Google Photos, Google Play, Search, and YouTube.